DATA
Lesson 7
A data warehouse refers to the vast array of methods that are used to collect and manage data from various sources at the organizational level. Such a data warehouse aims to collect information, examine it, and come up with impeccable details that management can use to develop insights about the business. These insights can aid in various decision-making processes, thereby leading to the success of a business. A firm that wants to create such a data warehouse may have to collect information about various elements in its core business and operations over a given time. Once such data has been collected, it is analyzed to come up with viable business insights.
Several reasons can be developed to ascertain why a manager may be more effective when such a data warehouse is present. One of the main reasons is because it helps reduce the resultant risk of various business processes. Such a manager may be confident when making even unpopular decisions (Inmon, 2015). Secondly, it helps save time in decision-making processes. Time is saved because business decisions take very little time to be made. Thirdly, it may be used to create a competitive advantage for the organization in the industry.
Lesson 8
Big data is a term that is used to refer to data that is big in volume and also grows at an exponential rate. Big data has several attributes that are used to distinguish it from other forms of data. The four main attributes of big data include veracity, velocity, volume, and variety. Volume refers to the size of the data and information. Data sets must be huge for them to be considered big data. The size today can be several petabytes or terabytes since technology allows such data to be processed. The second attribute is velocity. Velocity refers to the speed that is used when such data is being processed.
Due to the size of the data, a company must possess the necessary computers and networks to handle huge data at high speeds. High speed is important since business decisions are dependent on the processing of big data to provide business insights that can be used by management to make decisions (LeClerc, & Cale, 2020). The third attribute is the variety. There must be a great variety in the data that is to be processed. The fourth quality is veracity and refers to the quality of the data. The data must be of high quality since this is the only way that it can be important for the business.